[bgcolor=black]3.0

~A WORLD WITHOUT TEEN TITANS~[/bgcolor]

This story takes place after all the other current storylines. Characters used such as Cissie, Jay Garrick and Ma Kent are all NPC's currently.

---

Elias School for Girls
Manchester
Friday 3:10 am

"NOOO!!" Cissie King-Jones screamed, shooting up in her bed. She was drenched in a cold-sweat and her heart was beating like a jackhammer. It had been the dreams again. The same one she had been having since... it had happened.

It had been over a year since Doctor Marcy Money had been murdered by her ex-fiance. Over a year since Cissie in a fit of rage began hunting him for his crime. Over a year since she had let the arrow loose and nearly taken a life. Over a year since she had nearly lost herself to an evil that would have consumed and destroyed her.

And it had been over a year since the nightmares had begun for the former Arrowette.

They were less frequent now, but but when the did hit...

"Cissie?" said a young voice. Cissie reached over and turned on her table light to see her roommate Traya sitting up in her bed. The young girl rubber her eyes and yawned. "Was it the dream again?"

Cissie nodded slightly as she pulled her knees close to her chest. She then turned her eyes to the bed of her other roommate, and looked expectantly for the face of her best friend Cassandra Sandsmark also known as Wonder Girl.

Only one problem. Cassie wasn't in her bed.

"Traya, where's Cassie?" Cissie asked.

* * *

The Kent's Farm,
Smallville Kansas, USA
Friday 3:11 am

Martha Kent let out a deep sigh as she at long last put down her sewing needle. Liffting up the red, blue and yellow garment she made certain that the S-Shield was perfectly centered.

"Perfect..." she smiled to herself.

When she and her husband Johnathan had first found that remains of a Kryptonian Rocketship and their future son within, she would have never guessed that over 30 years later she would be sewing up the costumes of the the world's greatest superhero.

But she wasn't about to complain. Clark had been such a blessing to them and to the world. And Martha and Johnathan loved him dearly and would do anything for him.

Just as they would their other children. She gave a content smile.

Placing the newly made Superman garment on her sewing table, Martha tied her bathrobe a bit tighter as she made her way up the stairs. Making her way to the room on the far side of the house, she gently opened the door and peered inside. Conner Kent AKA Superboy had been among the newest children to join the Kent Family. He was so much more different than Clark was. More wild and aggressive about life. But he fit into the family perfectly. Just as Kara had.

"Conner, honey?" she said softly and recieved no response. Slowly she entered the room and made her way over to his bed to give him a goodnight kiss on the forhead. Only one problem.

Conner was gone.

* * *

Home of Jay & Joan Garrick, & Bart Allen
Keystone City
Friday 3:12 am

Jay Garrick sped into his house and came to a screaching hault before the fridge. The meeting with the JSA had gone far longer than he had expected, and he was starving. Downside of super-speed was that he was almost always hungry.

Fixing himself a sandwich he made his way upstairs. Joan would have a fit that he was eating upstairs, but he had his ways to get around that. As he made his way to his bedroom, he paused to hear the TV going loudly in the first bedroom on the left.

"Bart..." he sighed.

He was more than happy to have Bart (Kid Flash) Allen living with him, don't get him wrong. He and Joan had never had children and Bart had become like a son to them. But having the TV on at full blast at 3 in the morning was a bit insensitive. What if he woke up Joan?

Knocking one the door, Jay waited for Bart to answer. He didn't.

Opening the door, Jay looked in to see the entire bedroom empty. Bart's Game boy was laying on the bed still on and the TV was on infomercials. Something was defiently wrong here...

* * *

Warehouse District
Gotham City USA
Friday 3:13 am

"So what time do you think Penguin is going to make his move?" Robin asked into his com-link, from his hiding spot in the all concealing shadows of the Max Catfood Warehouse.

Nightwing who was sitting ontop of the factory, with his legs crossed shrugged. "Couldn't say," he replied, lowering his binoculars. "Pengy has been planning this hiest for months now. It could go down at any time."

"Well I wish he'd hurry up," Robin sighed. "I mean seriously, I was planning a nice long sleep for myself. Criminals just don't have any respect for people's sleep scheduels."

"I know, I know..." Nightwing laughed. "But at least we know its happening tonight. I once had to spend an entire week on stakeout waiting for Kilelr Moth one time. The guy actually forgot about his own hiest. Hold on a sec..."

Nightwing raised his binoculars to his eyes and saw a limo with a penguin shaped hood ornament driving down the alley way. "Its show time Robin." he said into his com.

There was no answer.

"Robin?"

* * *

Titans Tower, Titan's Island
San Fancisco California USA
Friday 3:14

The room was dark cept for a single candel and not a sound was heard except for the gentle breathing of its sole occupant.

Raven had been resurrected for nearly six months now, and it was still taking a great deal of work to control her abilities again.

Brother Blood had tainted her. Her emotions were unstable and her control nearly non-existant. Before she had been trained her entire life to control her emotions, but that had been before she had been freed of her father's evil. Now she was back to square one.

Her empathic abilities were touching everyone in the tower. Cyborg in his workshop. Starfire and Harm in their Bedrooms. Many of the other Titans were at their own homes or away on missions.

Raven took a final deep breath as she prepared to end her mediation for the evening. Suddenly her violet eyes shot open.

Something was wrong.

Drawing her hood over her head, Raven was suddenly overtaken by black smoke and she vanished from her chambers appearing a moment later in Cyborg's work shop.

"Victor!" she called, but no answer came. Smoke overtook Raven again as she teleported herself to Starfire's room.

"Koriand'r!" Again there was no response. A third time she teleported, this time to William Hayes' Room. He too was gone.

"Azar..."

* * *

Elsewhere
3:15 am

"You forgot about the witch," snapped the red-skinned, yellow eyed demonic looking man, in the center of the room.

"No, I didn't," replied a voice who sat on a large over the top throne. "She wasn't part of the plan remember? Besides, she's already screwed up enough as it is. She'd be no fun to mess with."

The demon/man let out an disapproving grunt.

"Aw come on, bro! We've got who we wanted, " He let out an evil laugh, as he waved his hands in the air. Purple energy began to crackle and an image appeared, showing Robin, Wonder Girl Superboy, Kid Flash, Harm, Starfire, & Cyborg laying ontop of a stone mountain top in the middle of no where.

"They'll wake up soon. And then the games can really begin!

Oracles Clock Tower
Gotham
Friday 3:30 a.m.


Rachael yawned and groaned as she looked down at her unfinished American Histroy paper. She had gotten in from patrol at one...only to have Babs thrust a list of homework assignments in her face and give her the roll of monitor duty as SHE took a few z's....

She looked down at her paper and tapped her pencil against her desk. A paper on President (insert president name that no one ever remembers)....oy. She would have been ready for this paper if it hadn't been the fact that she hadn't been there the day of the 'american history review'. She got stuck with the last subject that everyone else DIDN'T want.

She felt something rub against her leg and looked down to see Babs cat. She picked it up and frowned, stroking it behind the ears andit granted her with a pur in return. "You know what I've decided? I DESPISE the eleventh grade and its only been the first week." She placed the cat on a nearby desk and went back to her homework assignment.

SHOULD have been easy.....She knew allot about the history of the dc heroes as it was...why couldn't it be about the mystery men of the 1940's....

It had been a week since school started.......and she had arrived late for it. Finished up her training the day school started, finnaly became secure in her abilities, who she was.....the problem was, she hadn't wanted to leave. Dinah had to drag her back so she wouldn't miss school. Made up some excuse about vacationing with her mom before returning to the academy.....actualy made her feel bad though. Hadn't talked to her mom in awhile.....

She started to feel a tinge of guilt sneek in about lying to her mom. Telling her she was enrolled in a special scholarship credit summer program, but the idea didn't have time to seep in.

The comlink went off and she turned it on, checking a nearby monitor to see who it was:
Nightwing.

"Homework torture house. May I take your order?" she said in a sarcastic, sleepy voice.

To say Duo was tired was an understatement! Life was definitely getting hectic! She was trying to juggle her duties as a Titan, her school work from Elias, especially after to few stern words she had received from more then a few of her teachers for her poor attendance and uncompleted work, despite the fact that her exam results were first rate! Also her new outside activities...

She was hanging more with her friends outside of missions and school and thoroughly enjoying herself, not only that but she had acquired the equivalent of a part time job as a babysitter...grant the times she worked were far and few between, but she was getting a little bit of money for it and it wasn't the worse thing in the world...and as Cissie had said, if she wanted to be just like a normal teenage girl then babysitting was going to have to appear more then once o her lifetime agenda.

And Cissie had been bugging her to fulfil her promise to try out for the cheerleading squad, although the idea wasn't completely appealing to her, especially after she had caught sight of the revealing uniform of green and orange...the thought of prancing abut in that waving those silly pompoms was almost as bad as her nightmares...

But even those had been slowly fading, dreams of her demise still came frequently, but their impact was dying, not disturbing her so much so that she was actually getting a sound sleep at night...she was sure that she had her friends and new life to thank for that...

And she definitely needed the sleep...trying to manage all of this was getting tiresome and she was currently crashed out on her bed in a tank top and shorts, her makeshift pyjamas, slowly falling into sleep with a happy smile on her face...

Shame that her sleep was going to be interrupted by a hand on her shoulder gently shaking her awake.

"Duo...D-u-o..." came a voice, soft in her ear but urgent at the same time. Duo groaned aloud and rolled onto her side, away from the intrusive noise as she pulled her covers tighter around her, snuggling into the warm depths and back into sleep.

"D-u-o!...Duo!" Again the voice came and she felt the hand shaking her again. She sleepily smacked away the hand and grumbled "leave me alone..." it was muffled and slurred but her intent was obvious, she wanted to remain asleep, not to be woken.

"DUO!!!" The voice yelled into her ear and she jolted awake and sat bolt upright, her eyes were blurry as she blinked rapidly to take in the figure at her bedside.

"Ci...Cissie?" Duo yawned her name whilst rubbing the grime from her eyes, her waist length chestnut, red-streaked hair lay in cascades about her on the mattress, more then a little tousled from her sleep.

Cissie momentarily forgot her purpose for waking the sleeping angel as she held back a laugh at Duo's bedraggled, sleepy frame, her hair in disarray and her eyes droopy she looked like a little child. But quickly she regained her focus...

"Duo...Cassie isn't in our room...I thought she may have been in here..." she glanced around and could see that there was no evidence of that, her brow furrowed with worry. "Do you know where she is...did she say she was going out, on a mission or anything?"

Duo regarded Cissie, she looked worried..."perhaps she got called out at the last minute or something...I wouldn't worry, this is Cass after all, she can take care of herself."

"I'm not so sure" Cissie whispered.

"So this is the Elias Girls for School?” Cody thinks as he stands outside with holding his backpack. He just returned from Colorado where he spent a few weeks with his mom. It was something he had to do. “I wonder if she’s mad at me?”

Cody starts to make in the direction of the school. Cody left for Colorado abruptly and he didn’t warned anyone. Not Duo, not the Titans. He just needed to set things straight with his mom. Hopefully she won’t be mad at him.

As he walks Cody opens his backpack and pulls a jacket out of it, he puts it on, covering the bruises on his arms. Just as he was coming to Manchester he ran into Perciv-- Penat-- Perni-- Red Dragon!* A Weird man with a oversized toothpick trying to destroy a Drive In. Go figure.

Now Cody was really close to the windows but he had no idea which one was Duo’s. Far, far away, almost on the other side of the school Cody’s analytical smell picks Duo’s scent. Something he would never forget. With a single jump Cody lands, not to silently, on the other side of the school.

Cody, at 3:25 AM knocks on Duo’s window to get his girlfriend attention.

"Time Travel" Alley
Metropolis
Friday, 3:30 PM

Lyle awakens to the feel of rain drumming down on the bare skin of his face. He is lying on what feels like concrete, and slowly opens his eyes to reveal a skyscape at the same time familiar and alien. Slowly he climbs to his feet, swaying slightly from a feeling of disorientation.

"Trap... it was a trap..." he mutters to himself, putting his hand against a nearby brick wall for support.

Brick? Nobody built buildings with brick anymore; this is the 31st century.

With a sudden feeling of dread, Lyle forced his eyes all the way open.

"Oh, bloody nass," he says to himself as he looks around and sees the skyline of what could only be late 20th or early 21st century Metropolis. "I am SO sprocked..."

Quickly recovering his equilibreum, Invisible Kid stepped out of the alley he had arrived in, ignoring the people that gaped at him from under their umbrellas as they passed by. Looking to his left, he saw a newspaper machine filled with crisp new Daily Planets. Bending down to take a look, he checked the date. Friday, [Insert date here], 2004. Great, just great. Looking around him again as several passersby shied away from him, he saw a clock on the First National Bank of Metropolis. 3:30 PM.

"Well," thought Lyle quickly, "First thing's first. Let's get away from these people." Willing his flight ring to work, he lifted off from the crowd, coming to rest on top of a nearby building... an italian restaurant, by the smell. Lyle tried to ignore the growling of his stomach... small chance they'd accept United Planets creds. Why was he so hungry, though? He had eaten just before he had been sent to investigate that supposed space disaster, and time travel was supposed to be instantaneous. He then fully realized something else- rain was drumming down on his bare face. Someone had removed his transuit! Quickly checking to see that it was back in its proper place... it was... Lyle shook his head. This was getting wierder and wierder, but there was no time to deal with that sort of confusion. He had to deal with his immediate situation.

Bringing up his flight ring, Lyle finally spoke for the first time since cursing his situation. "Invisible Kid to Superboy, please come in." As an honorary Legionnaire, Superboy had a flight ring of his own with communications and tracking devises... why wasn't he answering? True, Conner could be a layabout, but it had to be 2:30 in the afternoon in Kansas ((if I remember my time zones right)). "Invisible Kid to Superboy, emergency, please respond."

Nothing. Lyle tried hitting the all-Legion alert; that would wake him.

Still nothing. With a sigh, Lyle said, "Flight Ring, locate Superboy, please."

A holographic map of the planet appeared... and Superboy's flight ring wasn't on it. The map expanded as the search was widened... he wasn't in the solar system.. he wasn't at Alpha Centauri... he wasn't anywhere within the search range of the ring. With a sigh, Lyle turned off the tracking beacon. Just his luck that the one Legionnaire living in the 21st century had to be off planet on a mission when he was needed.

Fortunately, all was not lost. After the last time a significant portion of the team had been trapped in the 2oth century, they had had a great deal of help from the internet information broker known as Oracle. Intrigued by her, Invisible Kid had done a lot of searching and piecing together of historical records and determined that Oracle was, in fact, Barbara Gordon, the one-time Batgirl, based in a Wayne Enterprises watchtower in Gotham City. Surely she could help him.

Taking out his omnicom, Invisible Kid used it to tap into the internet wirelessly... piece of cake... then went through the proper procedures he remembered from the Legion briefings to get in touch with Oracle. Of course, that info was a few years old, she may have changed her protocols, but even if she did she would get the message and see it was a Legionnaire.

Connecting his flight ring com to the internet via the omnicom, Invisible Kid made contact with Oracle. "Invisible Kid to Oracle, please come in." He sent the holographic image of himself, though of course only saw that green Oracle icon.

*I don't know if we're obiding to the rules of posting...if so let me know...but as for now I'm posting this... :D*


Duo had finally returned to the land of nod after ushering Cissie out of her room, she had ensured the worried girl several times that she was sure that Cassie was a sensible person and was more than capable of taking care of herself. Not that she wasn’t worried about her friend to a mild degree, but she believed her words and really didn’t think that her disappearance warranted a sleepless night.

So Duo was once again snuggled amidst her covers, curled on her side into a ball and lulling in a blackened abyss of calm and tranquillity...that was until a reasonably loud thud from her windowsill woke her up followed in quick succession by a series of taps on her window...

She groaned in frustration and she threw back her covers in utter annoyance! <All I want is to go to sleep! > She mentally cursed, she sat upright and brought her legs over the side of her bed, sweeping her fingers through her hair to get it in some order she yawned loudly to the silent room, steeping onto her tiptoes as she arched her back, feeling it crack as she stretched it and sighing as it elevated some of the cricks in her back she had gained from her interrupted sleep.

She then directed her sleep-stained mind to the window...and through the curtains that draped over it she could make out the silhouette of a figure. Her breath caught in her throat as she felt a mild stab of fear. Instantly she felt the red energy pulsating through her fingers as her eyes shone with a faint violet radiance and the energy flowed from her fingertips to form knives...the process was becoming more natural and required less effort and concentration...

She paced quietly to the window, her movements muffled by the carpeted floor...

Suddenly she ripped back the curtain with one hand whilst pulling open the window with the other, her knifed hands outstretched, prepared to slice and dice the potential intruder...

"Cody!"

Gotham City...

"Falcon, have you heard from Robin?" Nightwing's voice said flatly into his com-link. The Bludhaven Vigilante stood ontop of a mountain of crates, his breathing winded. All about him lay Penguin's thugs beaten to a pulp and warpped up tightly for hte police to take them away.Penguin himself had made an escape during the fight, and although his operation was busted, Cobblepot was free to try again.

Where had Robin gone? He was supposed to be his back-up during this. And Tim was never the kind of person to leave in the middle of a stakeout.

He'd have normally tried calling Oracle, but Barbara had taken her systems offline for the night in order to execute upgrades. And althought Dick knew that Tim and Rachel were still on shakey ground after she had left, he felt she might know something. "Robin up a disappeared in the middle of our stake out. That isn't like him at all, and I think something may have happened. I can't find him anywhere around here."

* * *


Elsewhere...

Robin let out a soft groan, as he rolled onto his stomach. "Someone get the number of that bus...?" he mumbled to himself weakly. He very slowly opened his eyes to discover that it was now daylight.

Exactly how long had he been out? What the hell had happened to him?

The last thing Tim could remember was waiting with Nightwing for Penguin to make his arms deal shipment and the next thing he knew he was here. Wherever here was...

The landscape was completely unfamilar with the Boy Wonder and considering there appeared to be no buildings he could rule out that he was still in Gotham, obviously.

Looking up to the sky, Tim let out a gasp, as his eyes fell on not one, but THREE moons!

"Where the hell am I?" he mumbled to himself, before turning around and giving another gasp. Laying on the ground behind him, he found Superboy, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, Harm, Starfire and Cyborg!

"Looks like I wasn't the only one with a rough night..."

She bit her lower lip and looked down at her paper....so far ther was only one sentence....."Hold on a second Nightwing, I'll see if I can bring up his tracer." Rachael pushed her swivle chair away from the bare desk and to Oracles supercomputers, bringing up a mapped out grid of the city. She furrowed her brow and looked at the map confused. Maybe there was a glitch or....no. Everyone else was on the map.....just not...."This is weird........Robins signal is nowhere on the map..." She tried the New Jersey state. Nothing. The northern united states. Nothing. The entire USA? Nada. Zip. zilch. "It's like he just....disappeared...." She turned her head as another one of Oracles monitors went off and the pcture of Invisible Kid came on.

She covered the mouthpiece of her comlink and looked up at the screen. "Sorry. Oracles not here right now.....Anything I can' help with?

She waited for either Nightwing or Invisible kids reply.

"Slo-bo this is stupid." Anita said as she sat back in the Super-Cycle, bored out of her skull, Slo-bo had brought her up to the old Justice Cave, which was pure rubble ever since the Pointmen and YJ blew it up during their first encounter, they were good at blowing stuff up. He planned on finding the statues the Kon had made in their early days.

"C'mon, ya can't tell me that the Tower wouldn't look better with Statues of us guys in the front instead'a those Titans bastiches." Slo-bo said as he continued digging smiling as he found something worthwhile.

"Slo-bo, the chances of those Statues still being intact is re--" Anita looked up at Slo-bo who pointed towards Impulse's granite head sticking out from the ground, "Well, I'll be."

"You wanna eat your words raw or ya want me t'grill'em for you." Slo-bo laughed as he pulled out the rest of the statue, that surprisingly was still intact.

"Bite me, Grey Boy." Anita said as she admired the Statue, which was pretty good, "Y'know we're gonna have to change this one, he's kinda not Impulse anymore." Anita said as Slo-bo pulled out another Statue, this time it was Robin's.

"We'll jus' get Kon t'change it or summit." Slo-bo said as he pulled out Superboy's Statue.

"Plus, we'll have to change Superboy's costume."

"We'll get him to change that one too." Slo-bo said as he pulled out Wonder Girl's and Arrowette's statues.

"And Cissie doesn't even wear that costume anymore, or any costume." Anita said noticing that Slo-bo was getting annoyed.

"He'll. Change. Them. all." Slo-bo said, finally pulling out Secret's statue.

"Have you thought about how you're gonna get these back to the Tower?" Anita asked as she stepped out of the Cycle and took a closer look at the Statues.

"Boomtube." Slo-bo said as he looked into the hole he'd pulled the Statues from and noticed something shining, he pulled it out. It was a rod. Nothing really special just a small rod, wouldn't even make a good weapon, but he decided to keep it anyway.

"You'll think they're survive a Boomtube trip?" Anita said as Slo-bo opened a Boomtube to the Tower.

"They survived bein' blown up didn't they." Slo-bo said smiling as he threw the Statues through the portal one by one, jumping in with Superboy's and Robin's Statue's under his arms. The Portal closed as the Cycle and Anita walked through.

"So, you're gonna replace that, with those?" Anita said pointing to the larger statue of the The Original Teen Titans, and then to the life size YJ Statues.

"They're goin' up somewhere in th' tower, I'll jus' have to figure out wh--" Slo-bo stepped into the Tower dragging in the Statues, but it was totally empty, "YO!!" Slo-bo shouted as loud as he could but no one replied. Pure silence enveloped the Tower.

"Spooky." Anita laughed as she walked back out of the tower.

"Where y'goin'?" Slo-bo asked as he watched her leave.

"Need to get back to my parents, I don't really trust Uncle Ish with them, y'know? Tell Cassie t'call me, okay." Anita said as she waved back at him and jumped into the Cycle.

"Will do." Slo-bo said doing a mock salute, "Now were the frag are you gu--WHOA!!" Slo-bo said as he turned around surprised by the hooded Raven, he jumped back into one of the statues, quickly grabbing t before it fell.

"Sorry if I frightened you." Raven said pretty much emotionless.

"S'okay, jus' don't do come up behind me like that, it's creepy." Slo-bo said facing her.

"Where are the rest of the The Titans?" She asked, still emotionless.

"Heh, there was me about t'ask you the same thing." Slo-bo said scratching the back of his head, confused...

Titans Tower
3:00 am

"Aaagh!" Supersonic woke up from his bed once more having the same nightmare he'd been having all night. "You know, this is really starting to get annoying. No matter when I wake up as soon as I go back to sleep it always starts from where it left off." Marx wasn't tortured by Duo's death every night, but it seemed that when he was the dreams would make up for lost time. "Guess I'll watch something, hopefully it'll help me get back to sleep." Flipping through the channels, Super was hoping to either find something to interest him or find something so boring he'd fall asleep as soon as he saw it. As luck would have it he passed C-SPAN. "ZZZzzZZzzzzZzZZZZZZzzzZzz....."


Elsewhere

"Looks like I wasn't the only one with a rough night..."

Harm slowly drifted awake as he heard Robin's voice. Then he looked beside him to see the other kidnapped Titans. "*groan* You know Cass, as much as I enjoy waking up in strange places with you sleeping next to me, we can't keep making this a habit." He then looked around at the strange landscape with a sigh. The three moons were a dead give away that he wasn't in Titans Tower anymore, as a matter of fact he didn't recognize anything. The first thing he tried to do was to call his weapons, and seeing that they didn't respond, it either meant they were really far away or there was some interference, he then had the slight wish that he still had his shadowporting ability. So far only him and Robin had woken up. "Any idea what's going on Rob?"

DETROIT

Jason Rusch was walking through the streets of Detroit at night, his troubles with the petty criminal Steve Golek were somewhat over since the felon ceased to exist after their bodies were combined when he turned into Firestorm the last time. Jason didn’t know what to do, he never thought he were going to turn into a hero. Neither he wanted. But what was he supposed to do? Run from the responsibility.

The cold nightly air started to bug Jason and he left home for his walk without a jacket, he was about thirty minutes away from his house, he didn’t notice he wandered that much.

“Great...” He mutters. “...now I’m getting a pneumonia!”

Jason turns and he seeing the empty street he realizes how far away he is from his house. But the cold is the last of his problems, he can solve that easily. Is the other problem that is stuck in his head. Who could he turn to.

“I know!” Jason voices, opening a big smile.

His friend Mick used to talk all the time about the Teen Titans. Heroes his own age. Maybe they could help him out. Jason concentrates. The last two times he turned into Firestorm he was scared to death.

“Maybe if I concentrate--”

FWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH. A extremely bright light is seens through the whole block and Jason is no more. Firestorm is standing in the middle of the nightly, empty, cold street. The cold no longer bothers The kid. Firestorm opens a small smile and the Nuclear Boy flies towards the Titans Tower.

--

ELSEWHERE

"*groan* You know Cass, as much as I enjoy waking up in strange places with you sleeping next to me, we can't keep making this a habit."

Superboy woke up his head still spinning. He heard Harm’s words and he didn’t bothered to hide that it annoyed him. Kon still has feelings for Cassie and to have her dating Harm of all people, that was something else.

Kon’s thoughts were interrupted by something he realized. When he was “kidnapped” he was in bed, and when he sleeps he wears nothing but his underwear.

“Huh... That’s embarrassing, kinda--”

Cody was still a bit in shock for his girlfriend harsh, but he couldn’t blame her. If someone was to knock at his window at three in the morning, someone would end up with a broken bone.

"Cody!"

Cody opens a smile, still standing outside the window. “Hey Babe... Can I come in?” Of course Cody had high hopes and low expectations about Duo's response. After all he did disappear for while without some much as a word.

Cody grunts as his regeneration powers starts to kick in fixing the burned and bruised skin under the jacket, but not fast enough to prevent the obvious blood stains in it.

"I know it's late 'n all..." Cody says looking deeply into her eyes. "...but I missed you."

( :( Fan Boy, Everyone, we're using posting rules on this story. That means ONE post per day. So remember that guys, unless you all want to do away with the posting rules for this story or something.)

>>I don't know about anyone else but I like the posting rules, especially since I can't get on that often now that I am working again, so I vote to stick with the rules. B) <<

Landing in San Fransisco, Sano got off his plane and headed into the terminal to pick up his backpack. It had been one hell of a vacation(see ongoing Fade Away storyline for more) and Sano was looking forward to getting in some relaxation time, hopefully, back at Titans Tower. Heading out of the airport and throwing his bag on his back Sano made his way to the shoreline and ever closer to the tower.

Reaching the shore, Sano stood on the beach and looked out at Titans Tower. For the first time in years he had someplace to look forward to going to. Doing his little "god" trick Sano used his telekenesis to levitate himself just enough to make it look like he was walking on water. Getting close to the tower Sano noticed that things were very quiet, the last time he had been here there was a pretty noisy bbq going on.

He didn't think anything like that would be happening but on such a nice day he thought there would at least be one person outside enjoying the weather. Having made it to the island, Sano went over to the entrance to the tower to see if he could find out what was going on. Walking up he got a strange sense that something was wrong, which was confirmed when he got to the tower.

Entering the tower Sano noticed two people he had been told before leaving were Slo-bo and Raven. Looking at the expressions on their faces Sano knew that there wasn't a good reason for the tower being empty. Resisting using his telepathy on people he knew Sano walked over to where the two teen heroes were.

"I'm guessing you both already asked this," Sano said hesitantly to Slo-bo and Raven, "but where is everybody?"

>>I, too, like th posting rules. This summers turning out to be kinda busy, so I dont have as much time as I'd like to have.<<

“Hey Babe... Can I come in?”

Duo stood dumbfounded looking at Cody who had a sheepish expression on his face; slowly she retracted the red energy knives hack into her hands as she regarded him, several different emotions and trails of though filtering through her mind.

"I know it's late 'n all...but I missed you."

Those words snapped Duo out of her daze of thinking as she grabbed him by the front of the shirt and yanked him inside her room. "Dammit Cody!" She hissed in a whisper, looking at him in both shock and anger. "What the hell are you doing coming here...to my school!?" She asked, she was simply thankful that it was only her in the room tonight. "If I'm caught with a boy in my room I'm going to get expelled!!!" She said, pointing a finger at his chest.

In truth that wasn't the real reason she was ranting and raving, in truth it was a facade to yell at Cody and spare her feelings. He had disappeared without a trace, not a word of warning...but then again she never expected anyone to stick around for long, <but he promised...he promised he'd be there...I knew he was lying! >

Her eyes flickered to the front of his shirt and saw the traces of blood, unconsciously she outstretched a hand to see if he was all right but recoiled quickly, dropping her hand to her side and lowering her eyes. "So you missed me huh?" She asked in a spiteful tone, keeping her eyes on the floor. "Why did you just leave then...I mean..."

A lot had happened in the last few weeks, she had faced a lot of her pass, recalled many of her painful memories...not to mention her confrontation with Vittorio, which had resulted in another death on her conscience...

Her eyes fell on his blood stained shirt once more, she knew his regenerative powers would be healing him, but that could stop her worrying…and she hated the fact that she was worrying. She felt…guilty…guilty that only a few weeks ago she had killed Vittorio…she had loved him, and here she was feeling sorry for herself because of Cody.

<What the hell does he expect? A few words and I’m going to forgive and forget…!?> She thought angrily, her eyes flashing…

Yet she found herself asking “Are you alright…?”

"Dammit Cody!"

Just the reaction Cody was expecting, but who could blame her. He shouldn’t just had disappeared out of nowhere, that wasn’t cool at all.

"Why did you just leave then...I mean..."

“Babe...” Cody says in a more serious tone. “...I Went to see my mom.” The last of his wounds just healed, but his arms still scratches a little. “I had to set things straight with her. Then I met some old friends... People I knew before I got all these powers, people I haven’t seen since...”

Cody caresses her hair softly, the last thing he wanted to do was hurt her and it kills him that her did. “I don’t know, Duo. When I got back in the trailer park... I felt like just a kid again. It was nice to feel like that.” He pauses. “But you weren’t there. And that sucked.”

“Are you alright…?”

Cody smiles again. He kisses her in the cheek. “Yeah... I am now.”

Elsewhere...

"Ah... they are waking up," grinned the sinister boy, watching the giant mystical TV monitor.

His companion, the red-skin demon boy nodded. "About time," he said with a sinister girn all his own. "I've been looking forward to this for a long time..."

"So let the entertainment begin," the boy lifted his hand up, which started to glow with purple energy.

"But what about their friend's back home?" asked the demon boy.

"Oh don't worry... I've got a special suprise for them..."

* * *

Elsewhere, elsewhere...

"Any idea what's going on Rob?"

"I'm 'faid not, Harm," Robin replied as he checkt the others for injuries. "One minute I'm on patrol in Gotham then next I wake up here. Whereever 'here' is. I don't even remember getting knocked out." There was tone of annoyance in Robin's voice, considering he hated being caught off guard.

All the others seemed relatively fine. Whoever had taken them had simply placed them in a state of deep sleep, it appeared. Many of the others were still in their pajamas and other sleep garb, telling the Boy Wonder that they had been plucked from their beds. He alone seemed to be in complete costume, since he had been on patrol at the time of his capture.

“Huh... That’s embarrassing, kinda--” mumbled Superboy as he regained conciousness.

Robin rolled his eyes with a sigh. "Kon, I think walking around in your boxers should be the least of your concerns."

The Boy Wonder looked back over the landscape. This place looked like something out of a sci-fi movie, and that certainly didn't place him at a sense of ease. Neither did that moving shadow he suddenly took notice of...

"Wait a minute..." Robin reached into his utility belt and pulled out a set of binaculars. "What the hell is that..." he said in a low voice, as he focused the lenses on the moving shaped. Instensifying the magnification, he could see there were many shapes. An army of giant, long legged... spiders?

"Guys... I hope your powers are working, but I think we may have a problem."

* * *

Gotham City...

"This is weird... Robin's signal is nowhere on the map..." Falcon told Nightwing "It's like he just....disappeared...."

"Falcon, that can't be right," Nightwing said. "No one just disappears." Of course in their world, that wasn't entirely true. Yet before Nightwing could responde further, the police band raido in his com, went off.

'Attention all units. Firefly reported in Buisness District. All units responde.'

"Falcon, keep looking for Robin," Nightwing said quickly. "Something tells me he's in big trouble. Nightwing out."

* * *

Titans Tower...

Raven looked to Slobo and Sano, he face deadly calm and emotionless. He hood was drawn over her head, casting much of her face in dark shadows. Her empathic abilities were not as well honed as they once were, yet her link to the other Titans had always remained constant. Normally on some level she could always feel their presence. But she could not feel them at all.

What she could feel was a dark shadow. Young and full of power. And evil.

"The Titans are in grave danger," she said in her ghostly ethreal voice. "An great and terrible evil has taken them. And they have just begun..."

sitting in the outsiders base in boston bloodless was in good spirts. he was happy that he had found a place that he seemed to belong in, although he had yet to learn about his past and he really didn't like boston much , but hey at least it wasn't the streets or even worst the foster home he spent most his life in.

"this is boring....i wish there was something to do. how is it that i'm a "super hero" and i have no villians to fight....." he said in a very bored and tired voice

"hmmm i wonder what nightwing is doing, he always seems to be in some sort of action or the other..." with that said kyle turned on the screen in the hq, he was still new at working the systems but he was getting better thanxs to the help of azrael

"bloodless to nightwing...."

"You got it." Rachael said, hanging up the com-link and typing away like crazy at the computer. No matter what, she couldn't find a ttrace on him.......she wondered......"Computer, bring up the last signal from Robins tracer and bring up security cam visual if possible.

She then turned back to the hologram of invisible kid. "What is it I can help you with Lyle?"

>>Sorry guys. Stepmom kicked me out of the house and took me to my sis's.....don't know why, but she did.....Haven't been able to get on a computer<

Pulling back his sweatshirt hood, Sano looked from Slo-bo to Raven waiting to see who would respond to his question.

"The Titans are in grave danger. A great and terrible evil has taken them. And they have just begun..."

Upon hearing the response from Raven, Sano looked over at here slightly unnerved by the tone of her voice. Sano could see by the look on her face that Raven was deadly serious and that something very dangerous had control of the Titans fates.

"Great, there went my idea of getting some rest," Sano said sarcastically. "Alright, well I'll take a quick look around the tower and see if I can find anyone or anything that could help us out."

Nodding to Raven and Slo-bo, Sano headed up to look around the tower and see what he could find. Sano had a basic idea of the layout of the tower as he had a little time to take a tour before he went on vacation. Walking around Sano could see nothing that looked out of the ordinary, and as far as he could tell whatever had taken the Titans had done so very quietly and expertly.

Just as he was about to give up his search Sano could hear what sounded like a TV on in one of the rooms. Taking a minute to remember the nickel tour he went on Sano realized that the room he was standing before was Supersonic's room. Knocking on the door and heading in Sano saw that the young speedster was asleep seemingly unaware of what was going on.

Feeling it was important that everyone knew the situation Sano went over to Supersonic and tapped his should trying to get him to wake up.

"C'mon Supersonic," Sano said shaking the speedster, "you gotta get up, we got trouble."

“Babe...I Went to see my mom. I had to set things straight with her. Then I met some old friends... People I knew before I got all these powers, people I haven’t seen since...”

<Oh great!> Duo thought as she watched Cody explaining things. <He went to see his mum, being a good son...way to go and make me feel guilty...> and it was true, she did feel guilty for having gotten mad at him when he was simply looking out for his family and friends...<still doesn't excuse the fact that he vanished without a word!> she thought, trying to quell the guilt.

She felt his fingers in her hair and she stared him in the eyes, searching their depths to see if he was lying, but she could see no trace of decite.

“But you weren’t there. And that sucked.” She smiled sweetly back as she felt him kiss her cheek and say that he was alright now, she wrapped her arms around his neck and cocked her head to the side. "Well...I guess it kinda sucked with you not being here too...although I'm sure that I could have survived!" She teased, feeling the laid back attitude she had acquired over the last few weeks taking affect as she planted a light kiss on his lips.

"so...b-a-b-e...what on earth are you doing coming to my dorm room at pass 3 am in the morning? Or didn't it occur to you that people sleep at this time of night?"

Firestorm lands in front of the Titans Tower, for a moment he admires the original titans statue. It’s amazing. He scratches his fiery head, wondering if he should walk into the tower. He’s a loser, a screw up, that happened to be in the wrong place at the right time. He isn’t a true deep blue hero like these other kids.

“Oh well--” Firestorm takes one step towards the tower, and another, and another. And at each step he takes his head screams to him, telling to get out of there. This is a mistake. Firestorm walks into the tower.

“Hello-- Any teen titans on call tonight?”

--

"Kon, I think walking around in your boxers should be the least of your concerns."

“Yeah, that’s cuz it’s not you wearing a spiderman underwear! I swear if it weren’t for my tactile telekinesis I would be so darn cold right now.”

Kon took a look around and realized the whole situation. They weren’t on Earth. Or so it seemed. That doesn’t make any sense. Why would someone kidnap them in the middle of the night and dump ‘em in this weird planet.

“My guess is: We’re not in Kansas anymore.”

"Guys... I hope your powers are working, but I think we may have a problem."

Kon too sees the Army of Giant spiders and a chill runs down his spine. “Spiders” Kon think. “It HAD to be spiders! Dammit!” Kon tried to maintain his posture. He couldn’t let the world know that spiders weird out the Boy of Steel.

“Back away, guys, my tactile telekinesis can handle this--”

"so...b-a-b-e...what on earth are you doing coming to my dorm room at pass 3 am in the morning? Or didn't it occur to you that people sleep at this time of night?"

“Well--” Cody says, with a wicked smile. “--I thought we could go for a ride.” He places his hands on her waist. “Just you, me. What do you say, are you up for a romantic, nightly pick-nick?”

Cody doesn’t giver her time to think, he immediately kisses Duo passionately, something he’s been craving to do for a very long time. Cody just enjoys the closeness for a second. And in this second he has an epiphany.

He is in love. For the very first time in his life, Cody Driscoll is in love. He doesn’t know how to quite deal with this, but that doesn’t bother his right now.

“So?”

Elsewhere

"Guys... I hope your powers are working, but I think we may have a problem."

"Um, yeah. About that whole powers thing..." Harm started, glad that he'd been training so hard that he just crashed on the bed in his civilian clothes. He realized that he forgot to tell Robin or any of the Titans in fact except for Secret and Cassie that he no longer had his powers. As a matter of fact without the sighs, he'd have to rely completly on his other skills. As soon as that thought passed his mind, the sighs slammed into Harm's hand with so much force it almost made him fall down.

Harm looked at the sighs with a smile as he tested them to see if they were working right as he concentrated on the techniques the White Mage had taught him and focused his essense into a white energy field of magic around the sighs. Then he further tested it by willing one of the sighs to transform into a sword and back into a sigh. "...I'll tell you about it later. Right now I'm good." He said with a smirk before glancing back at the Titans who had yet to awaken yet.

"Back away, guys, my tactile telekinesis can handle this--"

"Chill out Superdoop. I think we can handle giant spiders. Not to mention we might wanna..you know... make sure they don't have Kryptonite or anything."


Titans Tower

"C'mon Supersonic," Sano said shaking the speedster, "you gotta get up, we got trouble."

Supersonic groans in his sleep as he turns over. "But I don't want any bananas..." Then he slowly starts to wake up. "Wha tha huh? Sano?" Supersonic then looks at his watch. "Dude, it's like 4 in the morning." Marx then slapped his face a little to wake himself up. "Ok, what's up?"

"Great, Supersonic's awake." Slo-bo said with a can of coke in his hand, "Guess you ain't had any more luck with anyone else." Slo-bo said already knowing the answer.

"You're drinking when you're friends are in danger, you're not at all worried?" Raven said as she ported next to Slo-bo.

"Worried? 'Bout them? Please, they can handle themselves, well, don't really matter what happens to Harm." Slo-bo said taking another sip of his drink, "'Sides, we can't really do much without one o' the Bats, so unless you can get one'a them here."

"No. But I can take us to them." Raven said as a smile spread across Slo-bo face.

"Cool." Slo-bo turned to Sano and S.Sonic, "Get ready, we're headin' to Gotham."

(Does anyone know what happened to the guys playing Kid Flash, Starfire and Cyborg? I e-mailed them about the story and they haven't been online in weeks? They said they wanted to get invoved in this story...)

Elsewhere...

Robin reached back and snapped his bo-staff ready. This was really freaky. All this seemed horribly familar to him. The landscape, the three moons, the giant man eating spiders...

Robin shook the thoughts out of his head. Worry about that later. Right now they needed to worry about the 8 legged monsters moving towards them. "Wonder Girl and the others are still out. We've got to keep them safe guys. Harm can you shadow port us away from here?" he asked as the spiders were drawing steadily closer towards them.

Yet before anyone could respond the one of the larger spiders leapt high into the air and came crashing down nearly upon the Titans. The three heroes leapt to either side of their attacker to avoid.

"Titans GO!"

---

TITANS TOWER...

Raven nodded to Slobo as she raised her arms high into the air. Black smoke and energy began to flow from her body and under her flowing blue cloack, as she began to strengthen her soul-self to teleport her allies to Gotham. It took a great deal of concertation to do so, without opening up the gates to her father's dimension. She could feel his minions trying to rip through her mind and soul. But she was stronger than they were.

Yet before she could accomplish the teleportation, she paused and the energy returned back to her. She was feeling a new presence in the Tower. Young but with great power.

Dropping her arms, she turned to see Firestorm enter the Tower. “Hello-- Any teen titans on call tonight?”

Raven turned to the new arrival. "Hello Jason," she said to Firestorm much to his suprise. The two of them had never formally met, but her empathic abilities at times boardered on telepath. "Your arrival came at a very good time. And we must make haste. Are you all prepared?"

---

Elsewhere Elsewhere...

"Oh good, the pieces are getting into place!" laughed the manical young boy. "Are your... er... creations ready?"

The long-haired demonic looking teenager smiled evilly. "Ready and waiting. They're anxious to eat some meta-human flesh."

"Very cool!" laughed the boy, "Well let's not keep them waiting..."

---

SMALLVILLE...

Martha Kent sat before her computer, trying to recall what to do.

"Oh spit!" she snapped, as the computer froze up or a moment. Clark had installed a secret connection on the Kent's computer in order to contact the Oracle or JLA in times of need. Martha had never offically met Oracle, but she had spoken to her on several occassion.

Being the mother of the world's greatest superhero, it would be expected to speak to the central information leader of the world from time to time, especially when her son would get kidnapped by aliens and so on.

"Hello?" Martha said into the microphone, praying that she had done this right. "Oracle?"

"Dangit!" Rachael banged her hand down on the comp desk as Lyle's signal faded....
Shesighed and rubbed her temples, looking over to where Robins last signal was still being traced.

Maybe she should just wake up Babs....It was probably the first time in a couple of days that she actualy finally got some rest. But this was more of her fortay.

She began to get up as another call came in. This one from ..."Mrs. Kent? I'm sorry. Oracle isn't here right now. This is Falcon, one of superboys teamates? How can I help you."

(I speak to Starfire's player sometimes on MSN, and I'm on there like all the time, but I haven't seen her for a while, which is unusual, so I would put it down to a disability to get online rather than a lack of interest or effort, so I hope that is reassuring...and I hope I'm right. I myself am still willing to get involved in this storyline with Aura, so just let me know what to do and let me know when she's being recruited to the team. Sorry if all this out of character talk is annoying.)

“Well---I thought we could go for a ride. He places his hands on her waist. “Just you, me. What do you say, are you up for a romantic, nightly pick-nick?”

Cody seized her in a passionate kiss, which she melded to instantly, <damn I've missed him! > She thought, her fingers ruffling through his soft, blond hair as she kissed back, holding onto him tightly for fear that he would disappear again or that she was dreaming. She sincerely hoped that one day she would have enough confidence to tell him how much she'd missed him.

But when she opened her eyes and he asked her “So?” she couldn't help but breath a sigh of relief...he was still there, I wasn't just her imagination, and she cupped his face in her hands, smiling softly. "I'd love to, who could refuse a handsome guy coming to girl's dorm room at pass 3am in the morning to take her out for a romantic, nightly pick-nick?" She said with a chuckle, her dark eyes flashing happily, and all remnants of the hardships of the last few weeks flew out of her mind.

It was then that she looked down at herself and realised she was still clasped in a tank top and shorts, her makeshift PJs. "Err...I think I'm going to have to change first!" She said, blushing slightly. "Do you mind waiting outside for a few minutes while I change...I won't be long?"

(Nah Phoenix, if you look back at the other stories, sometimes we have a whole page of OOC talk lol. And I'm not sure, but I think when Falcon starts recruiting the new YJ team she'll find you.)

Elsewhere

"Wonder Girl and the others are still out. We've got to keep them safe guys. Harm can you shadow port us away from here?"

Harm looked at Robin slightly nervous. He'd begun to depend on Harm's mystical powers, so he'd have to tell Robin at some point and some point soon. Though he didn't have a chance since one of the spiders jumped at them. "Perfect, jumping spiders, always hated those."

"Titans GO!"

Harm growled slightly as he flipped the sighs so that the handles pointed outward and could be used as hammers. He quickly ran up one of the spider's legs increasing his focus, forcing more of his essence into the gleaming weapons making the white aura bigger before swinging the handle into the spider's head, enough of the magical aura to mimic superstrength. Flipping off the top of the spider's head, he used the handles of the sighs to hammer repeatedly onto the spider's head hoping to knock it unconscious. He'd learned to fight more carefully and think more as he attacked since Harm no longer had the healing ability to make up for his usually reckless fighting style.


Titans Tower

"Get ready, we're headin' to Gotham."

Supersonic woke up completely when he found out that half the Titans seemed to be missing. Was Duo one of them? Using his T-Terminal he called Shinigami. "Duo? Duo are you there? Like half the Titans have disappeared. We're trying to see if any of them are in Gotham. Duo answer. Answer. Duooo c'mon. I think I can hear you breathing. Du-.." Marx then realized he was talking too fast for her to get any words in if she was there. "...sorry bout that...I get hyper when I first wake up" He then looks at the stares he's getting. "Ok I'm hyper anyway, geeze..."

"Do you mind waiting outside for a few minutes while I change...I won't be long?"

“Not at all, babe.” Cody kisses Duo in the cheek before he starts making his way out of the room. “This is going to be the best night of your life, hun--” Cody smiles knowing that everything is perfect, everything is exactly how he wanted. Just him and his--

"Duo? Duo are you there? Like half the Titans have disappeared. We're trying to see if any of them are in Gotham. Duo answer. Answer. Duooo c'mon. I think I can hear you breathing. Du-.."

“Oh jeeze--” Cody sighs as he hears Supersonic babbling words he couldn’t understand exactly. “Puh-lease, don’t tell me we have a freakin’ emergency right now!” Cody turns to Duo, with his big puppy eyes almost begging her not to answer but he knows deep down that they have to.

“Crap--”

"Hello Jason,"

Firestorm freezes. How in the heck could she possible know his name. He been “on the job” for nearly fifteen days. That’s just eerie, but then again she’s eerie.

"Your arrival came at a very good time. And we must make haste. Are you all prepared?"

“Wait a sec--” Firestorm says with his voice about to fade. “What is going on?” He approaches the rest of the Titans still confused, he never worked with others, thus he doesn’t know much about team dynamics.

--

Two spiders were running towards Kid Flash and Wonder Girl who were still out, Kon used his telekinesis and threw the spiders away from the two team members.

“Yeah! Take that Spidey” Kon shouts with a smirk. “Feel the power of my tactic teleki--”

One of the giant spiders runs over the boy of steel, dragging his for a few yards. “I’m so going to kill you little sunnova--” Kon throws a punch in what he thought would be the stomach of the creature in a effort to free himself, it works. So Kon kicks the Spider that flips over on the ground and Kon can one again stand on his feet.

“Rob, any ideas on how the hell we got here?!”

SMALLVILLE...

Martha Kent's brow furrowed as she tried to recall Falcon. There were so many super-heroes in the world, it was hard to keep them all straight sometimes. Finally she snapped her fingers as she recalled the young lady from Conner's team photo. She had only met Falcon once before, but she had seemed like a very lovely young woman. Certainly nothing like her mentor, the Batman.

"Hello Falcon," Martha said. "I was hoping that I could reach Oracle. I'm not certain who to call. Con... er... Superboy is missing. I went into his room earlier to check on him and he was gone. He isn't answering his cell-phone and he didn't leave a not. Johnathan and I are very worried about him."

At that moment Johnathan Kent entered the farmhouse and removed his coat with a sigh. "I looked everywhere Martha. The high school, the meteor site... Nothing." The eldest Kent male fell silent as he notice Martha using the computer-head and the JLA logo on the computer screen.

---

Titans Tower...

Raven didn't wait for anyone to respond, but instead she rose her arms into air and pushed back her cloak. The black clouds of mystical energy and smoke billowed out from the empathic Titans, as he soul self over took the assembled heroes.

When Raven's soul-self embraced the others it was as if they had been in a warm blanket. There was a calmness that overtook them, temporarily easing whatever fear, anger, or negative feelings that they may have been experiencing. But this lasted for only a moment, as an instant later Raven's soul-self melted from them and they found themselves standing in the center of Robinson Park, near the Alice in Wonderland fountain.

"You shall await here," Raven said. "For not all of you know the true identity of Falcon and there are many secrets that do not concern you. I shall return shortly." Just before Raven drew forth her soul-self again she paused and looked at Slo-bo and Supersonic. "Stay. Here." she commaned.

Before anyone could reply, Raven was overtaken in her soul-self and vanished to speak with Falcon.

---

Meanwhile on the otherside of City, at Gotham Square...

'HELP!!!" screamed a young woman as Gothamites raced around frantically. To say there was choas would have been an understatement. It was bedlam! And with good reason, because less than a moment ago a large swirling purple vortex had opened in the center of Gotham Square.

From the vortext dozens upon dozens of gold armored soilders spilled forth into the city. They a were large and their the armored masks were familar with spartan helmest, only with giant animalistic horns. They began to rampage the city, destroying and killing all in their paths.

A police car came speeding into the city and Detective Rene Montoya leapt out, her gun held at the ready, while former Metoplis Detective, Captain Maggie Sawyer exited the passanger side of the car and ran up besides her.

"We are going to need back up..." Captain Sawyer mumbled as more soilders leapt from the portal.

"Madre De Dios..." Rene gapsed. "What are they?"

"Don't you watch the news?" Saywer asked, her face set in a scowl. "Those are the guys that attacked JFK airport last year. The Wilderbeests."

---

ELSEWHERE...

“Rob, any ideas on how the hell we got here?!”

Robin avoided the pinchers of one Spider, while trying to avoid the attacks from two of it's long legs. "Negative Superboy," Robin replied as he went into a set of blackflips to get out of the line of attack. "But I'm very open to theories and suggestions!"

Not only were these spiders strong, big and very dangerous, they were smart as well! The spider wasn't only going on the offensive, but also the defensive. Robin would throw a punch and the spider used one of its many legs to block it as a martial artist would.

Robin was caught off guard at one point, and was struck across the face by a one of the spider's legs and went crashing into the ground. The Spider leapt into the air, and drew it's poison pincer ready. The thorax of the spider jammed forth, aimed towards the Boy Wonder's chest. At the last possible second, Robin sidestepped, successfully avoiding the pincer and using a batarang severed the offending limb from the beast.

The spider howled in agony, as it used its legs to try and strike down the Boy Wonder in vengence. It struck Robin on the back causing him to roll near the edge of the cliff. In one swift movement Robin leapt back to his feet and reached for a metallic disk with a glowing blue center from his utility belt. As the spider raced towards him, Robin threw the disk, and the second that it struck the spider, it was encased in pure ice.

"One down twenty some more to go..." Robin sighed as another spider closed in for an attack.

As he headed downstairs with Supersonic, Sano explained everything that he knew to that point. The majority of the Titans were missing and there was no sign of any forceful entry or disturbances in the tower. Heading back over to where Slo-bo and Raven were, Sano quickly explained what he guessed they already knew, there was no sign of the missing Titans. Just as they were all about to head to Gotham, someone Sano didn't recognize walked into the tower wanting to know if any Titans were on duty. Before he could say anything Raven responded to the young superhero and called him by what Sano figured was his superhero name.

"Your arrival came at a very good time. And we must make haste. Are you all prepared?"

Looking back to Raven from the newly arrived Firestorm, Sano was about to say he was ready when he was suddenly engulfed in darkness. For a moment everything was black and he felt as though he hadn't a care in the world. It took him back to a better time in his life, a time when he didn't know what powers he possessed. As the darkness faded Sano found himself somewhere he didn't recognize, but what the others had said before they left he guessed they were somewhere in Gotham.

"You shall wait here. For not all of you know the true identity of Falcon and there are many secrets that do not concern you. I shall return shortly."

Not wanting to overstep his bounds, Sano nodded at Raven and prepared to wait for her return. As Raven was about to leave she added a special message while looking directly at Slo-bo and Supersonic.

"Stay. Here."

With that Raven disappeared again to find Falcon and most likely either bring them to her or bring her to them. As she was leaving something clicked in Sano's head, Raven knew who Falcon really was and knew who Firestorm was without ever having met him.

"Interesting," Sano thought to himself, "she seems to have a unique way with people. I wonder what she knows about me."

Knowing this was no time to ask such a question, Sano figured to take advantage of the down time and get in some quick meditation. Walking over to a nice level spot, Sano passed by Supersonic and smirked.

"No one seems to trust you eh Supersonic," Sano said laughing a little, "I wonder how you got such a reputation."

Reaching his designated spot, Sano sat down on the ground indian style and floated himself a few inches off the ground. Closing his eyes and clearing his mind Sano slipped into a meditative state, something he hadn't done since getting back from vacation. Deciding to work on his telepathic abilities, mostly to keep an eye on what was going on around him while his eyes were closed Sano focused on the three heroes who traveled with him.

Easily reading each of their minds, Sano found that Slo-bo was mostly unworried about the whole situation and remained perfectly calm. A little too calm considering the situation Sano thought, but it was nothing to worry about. Reaching into Supersonic's mind Sano found what he had expected, the young speedster's mind worked as fast as his body did. In addition he found that Supersonic was genuinely worried, and beneath his joking exterior Sano found that the young hero truly cared about his friends.

Entering Firestorm's mind, Sano found someone who was confused, not just about the current situation but about everything that was happening to him. Firestorm's mind was racing, bouncing from topic to topic and Sano guessed that he hadn't been with his powers for long. Sano remembered what that was like for him, finding out what he could do just with his mind had changed his entire life. Opening his mind up so he could track everything that was happening around him Sano began to relax and prepare himself mentally for whatever would come next.

“This is going to be the best night of your life, hun--" the words faded into the background as her T-terminal went of and she instinctively grabbed it and flicked it open.

Instantly streams of words were flying at her from a hyperactive Supersonic.
"Duo? Duo are you there? Like half the Titans have disappeared. We're trying to see if any of them are in Gotham. Duo answer. Answer. Duooo c'mon. I think I can hear you breathing. Du-.."

She looked from the T-terminal to where Cody was standing, halfway across the room, staring at her imploringly. She would have liked nothing more to forget the call, pretend she hadn't heard Supersonic's words and turn away and go with Cody on that picnic he'd promised her...But her thoughts flew to Cassie, Cissie had been in her earlier that night worried for Cassie and Duo had dismissed her worries in favour of sleep.

If her friends were in trouble, she owed it to them to help all she could! And she couldn't just ignore Supersonic either...he'd been looking out for her the last few weeks, been someone she could run to and cry on their shoulder when things got to a point where she just couldn't cope, when there had been no-one else...

She looked at Cody apologetically, and spoke into the T-terminal. "Marxy! Calm down!" She said, calling him by the nickname she had dubbed him with during the spar they had had when their bodies had been switched, he seemed to have grown to like the name over time and no longer argued when she called him it. "Marxy, the team is missing? Cassie isn't at Elias at the minute; she may be one of those missing also? You're in Gotham right, do you want me to come meet you there…?"

She glanced at Cody, placing one hand over the T-terminal she simply said. "Some of the Titans are missing, they need help. I'm going..." she held her breath after the next line "are you coming?"

"are you coming?"

Cody shudders. What can he do? He’s a hero, or at least he is trying hard to be these days. “Yeah--” He says fairly disappointed. “--I don’t exactly call this quality time, but I missed you so damn much that I take anything I can get--”

Cody lifts his shirt showing his costume underneath. “Thank God, I brought my lucky underwear.” He takes his Jacket and Shirt of, the sleeves of his costume also “healed” and are no longer lacerated from his battle with the villain in the Drive-In. This costume was an experiment he stole from ESTRELA LABS in Mexico. A reminder of his outlaw days.

“Huh, I’ll be outside, so you can change, all right babe?” Cody says as he starts to make his way out of the room. Cody wasn’t happy and wasn’t trying to hide it, but if the Titans really need help, he can’t turn his back on them.

ELSEWHERE

"Fight Giant Psycho Spiders on my underwear--" Mutters Kon as he rips apart two legs of a Spider. "--this got be a bad dream!" The Spider tries to hit Kon with another but leg but he blocks and then he punches the head of the creature, knocking the spider out.

"Filthy litte monsters." Two Spiders comes running towards Superboy, in the last minute his take off the ground and the Spiders hit violently each other. "How about a little barbeque?" Kon says with a smirk. He then hits the Spider with his heat vision burning them alive. "I truly hate spiders!"

--

TITANS TOWER

Firestorm was awaiting with the rest of the titans. He didn't know anyone there, and aside from Raven no one knew him, actually Raven didn't ACTUALLY knew him, she just knew his name. Which is odd, 'cause he never told her. But then again she's odd. Firestorm observes Slo-bo for a minute. "He doesn't look human." Firestorm thinks. Then Jason sees his own reflect. "Yeah, like I'm sooo normal right now!"

"So--" Firestorm asks Slo-Bo. "--you have any idea about what's going on?" The newbie completes. "I just came here, but-- well, I didn't had anywhere else to go." It's pretty obvious by Firestorm's body language that he's completely nervous. "I don't know much about this super hero thing, you know--"

"So--" Firestorm asks Slo-Bo. "--you have any idea about what's going on?" The newbie completes. "I just came here, but-- well, I didn't had anywhere else to go." It's pretty obvious by Firestorm's body language that he's completely nervous. "I don't know much about this super hero thing, you know--"

"Th'Teams been abducted. Which means we gotta find th'bastich and hit him 'til he stops movin'." Slo-bo watched how nervous Firestorm was, "Might involve Demons and a lotta life threatin' danger," Slo-bo said smiling, "You up fer it?"

((Sorry I haven't been able to post, guys. I'm back for good now, though.))

"Oh, Nass," cursed Invisible Kid as his flight ring's connection to the Internet faded. He grimaced at the storm... a little bit of weather, and this primitive 21st century technology just cuts out.

After a few moments, he reconnected, this time setting up a direct link to Oracle's systems.

"This is Invisible Kid again," he said as soon as the com was reconnected. "I'm sorry about the failed connection, this 21st century technology doesn't seem to hold up as well as I'm used to."

Invisible Kid regards the holographic image of Falcon silently for a moment... whoever this heroine is... or was... or will be... temporal mechanics are so confusing... there was no historical record of her; he really had no idea who he was dealing with.

"I appologize for the suddenness of this call, but I assume that you know who I am from Oracle's files," Lyle said, recalling that this individual had called him by his first name almost immediately. "A short time ago I was thrust back into your time, alone, by a chromometric vortex in the 31st century; I landed alone in an alley in Metropolis. I tried to contact Superboy, but I'm not detecting his flight ring anywhere within my scanner range, so I assume he's on some mission off-planet."

"Last time some Legionnaires were trapped in this era, Oracle was a great help to them. I was hoping that she... or you... could tell me at least where Superboy is so I can link up with him and the Titans and try to figure out what's going on. If you're not to busy, that is," Lyle concludes politely, ignoring the rain drumming down on his head.